Introduction

The aim of this free course, Sporting women in the media, is to explore how and why gender discrimination and gender inequalities exist in sport and to investigate some of the implications.

There might be some biological differences which means that males and females don’t compete against each other in all sports, but these do not explain or justify why there are such disparities of career opportunities and rewards for women in sport.

Indeed, sport could be argued to have one of the largest fields of unequal pay between the genders despite the equal pay act being passed over 50 years ago in the UK. Pay discrepancies continue between men and women. For example, Women’s Super League players receive just 1 per cent of male Premier League players (Collingwood Legal, 2023). Audiences and UK consumers notice this disparity; over half believe there is inequality in salaries/winnings, and media coverage (Towers Mode, 2023). With women’s sports fans being identified as a lucrative audience this is an important topic to explore (Towers Mode, 2023).

This OpenLearn course is an example of level 3 study in Sport and fitness. You might be interested in the related Open University course E315 Contemporary sport and exercise issues.